The Trend Cycle

Punk, Mod, Sharpie, Goth, Bogan, Hipster, Normcore ... Every few years a 'new' fashion and lifestyle trend emerges, dominating conversations and polarising the masses.  It seems we need to feel good about ourselves by pouring scorn on a sub-culture - it's part of our DNA - and the reason why those tabloid papers and current affairs programs sell in the first place by allowing the consumer to feel morally superior.  

So, yes, they're different to the rest of us.  In this post I want to say a kind word or three about hipsters.  Those healthy looking young things on their fixies, the real ones with no brakes, with their glowing complexions from having just eaten half a bunch of Kale sprinkled with quinoa (before those ingredients became mainstream),  who drink boutique beer from some speakeasy that only sells direct to customers in an old jar and are listening to the most awesome music, but what's the point of telling you, because you non-hipsters will have never heard of them.  I could go on for paragraphs, however I'm going to leave it there.

The inspiration for this blog came from the SBS documentary Hipsters and couple of articles published in the Age in last May this year titled Why Melbourne will never be free of the hipster and Who killed the hipster and why did we hate him so much anyway?

The doco was put together by the Australian voice of Generation X, actor Samuel Johnson, who managed to capture the essence of the hipster by travelling the western world in search of where the trend came from, what it meant to be one and to uncover what's next.  After all, it's just another trend on the never ending cycle of trends.

The first article "Why Melbourne will never be free of the hipster" was an absolute uphill ride on a single speed.   I really had to push myself to get through it.  Was it worth it?  Just!  The last paragraph delivered a mild punchline.

The second article "Who killed the hipster and why did we hate him so much anyway?" was more of a downhill fixie ride which provided enough of a runway to pull up the bike before crashing into the fence.  For those who don't take themselves too seriously it was more of an ultimate work of tongue in cheek irony.  Well worth a read.

To summarise those two articles, I swear that hipsters were being scorned more than rabbits in a plague.  Too cool, taking up too much space in the good eateries around town, snapping up all of the available rentals and forcing up rents and house prices.  Seems if you're in doubt of who to blame, then blame the hipsters.  Personally I don't think they would give a toss what you think.

In support of hipsters, they are at the front of driving trends which are making the world a better place.  For example:

• popularising cycling; my mantra is the more cyclists the better
• people who actually care about how good their coffee tastes; can't see any rebuttal to that argument
• you're never going to fit into a pair of skinny jeans unless you have some regard for your diet; well, obesity is one of the greatest drags on our health budget, so lean and healthy is good (even if it is does mean eating kale)
• the laughter factor from a good hipster joke (why shouldn't you bet on a hipster in a bike race? Because it's "fixed")

In September 2014, when I saw a Coca-Cola branded fixie as a prize in a fish and chip shop at San Remo, I thought the fixie trend was dead.  Now I realise that they have just become mainstream and accepted as normal.  Maybe this is what will happen with hipsters.  They too will become 'normal' or 'out of date' and the next new trend will emerge.  

To conclude, what will I be wearing on my next ride?  Probably the same gear I've been wearing for ages, in particular my favourite Fitzroy Cycles zip up jacket I bought 21 years ago (still keeps the wind out, is definitely retro and is about to fall apart from use).  My philosophy is that if I keep something long enough, it will eventually come back into fashion and one day I'll be a cool, old fool.